An Aesthetic Triumph: Glass Cladding, Skylights and Façades
Cladding is more than just a protective skin on the exterior of a building. With the right design and construction system, it can add a breathtaking — even iconic — architectural element to a structure.
For instance, glass cladding not only lets the outdoors in, but can do so in striking ways that are far from predictable.
Architects and designers can incorporate beautiful opaque, textured or clear glass features onto a wall or ceiling to evoke nature, "mood," or a creative perspective.
Skylights and Natural Lighting
Cladding can be tinted or transparent for maximum natural lighting, even when a structure has an unconventional shape. Geometrica's Hyparwave™ system frames free form buildings with tubular members.
The resulting infrastructure is strong in terms of both tension and compression. It can be shaped into surfaces of revolution and employed in combinations of curvature and inverse curvature within a single gridshell.
Geometrica's exclusive GL-48 cladding system allows true free-form structures to be clad with a three-way glass pattern, which can be described as "window art" in patterned or mosaic treatments.
This allows for several options when it comes to appearance, as the light follows the function. The modular layout may vary with the structure behavior, or to express mathematical patterns such a lamella, Lace™, geodesic, or Daisy™.
Enticing Envelopes
As a true new medium for architectural expression, Geometrica is today's platform for technology to meet the demands for elegance in modern building envelope design.
But companies and organizations also look for more organic solutions in their day-to-day operations.
Geometrica, as a high performance designer, addresses a myriad of issues with each application, such as the impact performance inside and outside of a commercial space.
To the left, a casa terrace protects occupants from the weather while embracing nature. This openable Freedome® is designed with a hierarchical gutter arrangement for redundant protection against water leakage.
Structural seals prevent infiltration. Condensate gutters in all the skylight mullions capture moisture and carry it to primary gutters. These primary gutters are uninterrupted from the water break to the dome's edge.
And although energy conservation is important, so is consumer and community appeal. Landmark-quality applications are Geometrica's forte, as demonstrated in some of the world's most unusual design challenges.
For example, the natural lighting at the Plaza Valle Shopping Center keeps shoppers in a lighthearted mood.
These striking and cost effective skylights and glass covers can be seen across a spectrum of industries: retailers, office settings, tourist destinations, places of learning and houses of worship.
All enhance exterior and interior spaces with stunning natural lighting and soaring ceilings.
Never mundane, today's designers utilize a variety of geometries, treatments and structural systems to achieve a novel look.
The CNAR Velodrome — an iconic world-class wooden indoor track covered by an equally glorious domed roof — draws hopeful athletes, bicycling enthusiasts and performers.
The design of the entire building is so appealing that the structure is considered by some to be a work of art.
Sculptural Art in Monumental Architecture
One beautiful example of architectural sculpture is the soul-stirring dome of San Juan Church in Monterrey, Mexico (below).
While natural or special LED lighting options make opaque, colored or textured glass especially appealing, other solid cladding reflective facade materials, such as aluminum, are also suited for surfaces that curve in opposite directions.
Internal and external surfaces of office buildings, shopping centers, houses of worship, libraries and gathering places can now be designed to follow whimsical forms.
These type of applications become cultural icons, such as Puerto Rico’s family destination, the Museo del Niño (to the left).
This community center provides a good dose of fun as Mother Nature makes an appearance, courtesy of a stunning skylight overhead!
Versatile Form
Form is the most basic of architectural features, and must be versatile enough to accommodate cladding options, the designer's vision, and the engineer's capabilities.
Altogether, form defines a building’s character and may include vertical, inclined or curved glass walls.
Geometrica presents a multitude of options for the most "impossible" design challenges.
Often the complex curvature which supports the façade of a structure is described with nuanced monikers such as “anticlastic,” “minimal,” “inverse curvature,” and “hyperbolic parabola."
This hugely versatile system can be utilized with many different forms of cladding, including:
- Profiled Sheet Built up Cladding Systems
- Secret Fix cladding systems (both steel and aluminium)
- Standing Seam cladding Systems (both steel and aluminium)
- Glazing (transparent, textured and opaque glass)
- Fabric and foil membranes
Whether translucent, opaque or transparent, rigid or soft, lightweight or heavy, such structures can span vast distances while withstanding the elements.
More and more design professionals are discovering and specifying a structural system that provides exciting and efficient forms for iconic buildings.
The World's Most Unusual Design Challenges
As a true new medium for architectural expression, Geometrica is today's platform for technology to meet the demands for elegance in modern building envelope design.
But companies and organizations also look for more organic solutions in their day-to-day operations.
Geometrica, as a high performance designer, addresses a myriad of issues with each application, such as the impact performance inside and outside of a commercial space.
And although energy conservation is important, so is consumer and community appeal. Landmark-quality applications are Geometrica's forte, as demonstrated in some of the world's most unusual design challenges such as the reflective façade of the Gomez-Morín Cultural Center (to the right).
Playing against an art deco-inspired wall, this multi-purpose center includes a library and exemplifies eye-catching architecture.
Another superb example is the multisensory Museo Soumaya in the Nuevo Polanco area of Mexico City, a community jewel that is open to the public and requires no admission.
Rising seven stories, the magnificant structure was designed by renowned architect Fernando Romero and engineered by Geometrica.
The award-winning freestyle façade has gained attention around the world for it's dazzling beauty and has been referred to as “a trapezoid in motion,” “a shiny silver cloud-like structure reminiscent of a Rodin sculpture,” and “the world’s flashiest museum.”
Although some said the building of such a structure would be an impossible feat, the Geometrica system helped give rise to the Mexico city’s newest and most visible world-class icon.
Talk of the Town
Let the mind and spirit soar! Dramatic elegance merges with imagination to achieve complete design freedom. Enjoy a photo gallery of stunning glass and reflective cladding around the world.
